Pay Rs 399 cr pending Phailin aid from NDRF, Odisha urges parliamentary panel

Odisha Sun Times Bureau
Bhubaneswar, Jan 10: 

The Odisha government today urged the Parliamentary Standing Committee on Home Affairs to persuade the Central government to urgently allocate arrear funds due to it towards Phailin assistance from the National Disaster Response Fund (NDRF) instead of insisting on meeting it from the State Disaster Response Fund (SDRF).

The request came during a meeting between the committee, which visited Cyclone Hudhud hit Ganjam district in south Odisha on Friday and chief secretary G C Pati and other top state officials here today where relief, restoration and rehabilitation work in the district was reviewed.

“We presented all facts to the committee on the steps we had taken with regard to relief and rescue operations during cyclone Hudhud and funds sought by us from the Centre. There was detailed discussion on the matter. We have urged them to recommend to the Centre to release arrears of Rs 399.83 crore by way of assistance towards reconstruction work in Phailin hit areas from NDRF instead of insisting on footing the bill from the SDRF. We insisted on its release from NDRF. The committee has assured that it will incorporate our demand in its report,” said Pradipta Kumar Mohapatra, Special Relief Commissioner (SRC), speaking to the media after the meeting.

“From our field visit, we have come to know that many of the Hudhud victims are facing financial problems. There are others who face problems in getting relief materials. I feel the arrangements should be much more, it should be improved. We have communicated the people’s problems to the state government. We will do whatever possible help the panel can extend to the people,” said Pradip Bhattacharya, chairman of the Parliamentary Standing Committee.

“We will recommend to the Central government on the basis of our complete examination of what we think is important. The most important thing of course is that there should be much more alertness in reacting to the situation and release of money on humanitarian grounds,” said Sitaram Yechury, Rajya Sabha MP and member of the standing committee.

Hudhud, a very severe cyclonic storm struck the coast near Visakhapatnam on October 12 last year before advancing towards south Odisha.

In its memorandum submitted to the Home ministry, the state government had demanded an assistance of Rs 777.12 crore for restoration and rehabilitation work in 22 districts affected by the Hudhud.